1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a media separating and feeding device that separates and feeds checks, printing paper, and other types of sheet media one at a time. The invention also relates to a check processing device, a printer, a scanner, a magnetic reader, or other type of media processing device that incorporates the media separating and feeding device.
2. Description of Related Art
Banks and other financial institutions use check processing devices (also called check readers) to image and read magnetic ink characters from checks, promissory notes, and other check-like negotiable instruments, and to sort the checks based on the acquired information. As electronic check processing has become more common in recent years, the scanned image data and magnetic ink character data is also processed and managed using computers. See, for example, the check reader taught in Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-2004-206362.
The checks that are conveyed by the feed roller pass between a separation roller and a retard roller. By passing the checks between these rollers, multifed checks are separated so that the checks are conveyed one at a time through the check transportation path.
In order to reduce the size and space requirements of check processing devices, it is also preferable to reduce the size of the drive mechanism for the pressure member and the drive mechanism for the feed roller and retard roller assembled in the check loading unit. More particularly, once the pressure member is driven to the feed roller side after the checks are loaded, the pressure member is held in this position until all of the checks are gone. When the last check has been fed, the pressure member is reset to the original retracted position so that more checks can be loaded. Providing a dedicated drive motor as the drive power source for a pressure member that is moved only at the beginning and end of the check processing operation is not space efficient. In addition, a motor with relatively high torque capacity approximately equal to the drive motor for driving the feed roller and retard roller is required to drive the pressure member because driving the pressure member requires relatively high torque. Providing a dedicated drive motor is thus inefficient in terms of cost as well as space.